What did I do wrong?

My spouse and I are in the process of fixing up our 1952 ranch home, and we've encountered an electrical problem (that we probably caused

We replaced the old exterior lights on both the front and back porch with new motion-sensor fixtures. We turned off the power at the correct breaker, and replaced the back porch fixture first. When we turned the power back on, it worked beautifully. So we flipped off the breaker again (they are connected to the same one) we proceeded with the front porch fixture. After it was finished, we once again turned on the breaker, only this time it did not work. Not only that, but ALL the light fixtures that are tied in to this breaker were not working (there are 4... front and back porch, plus hall and stairway light inside).

We thought perhaps we had wired the front porch fixture incorrectly, so we undid everything, flipped the breaker off and back on again, and still none of the lights will work.

If you haven't guessed, we are complete novices and don't know much about electrical work. But we did everything according to instructions, so we're a bit flummoxed. Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Are the lights on a 3-way circuit (can you turn them on or off from more than one location)? That type of light requires hot, neutral, and ground to be 'fixed' in location (on many of them anyways). When on a 3-way circuit, the hot and neutral can switch if I've got that right. You might get it to work if you flip one switch, then use the other one.

I have one that allows you to lock it on by flipping the switch from off to on twice within the first three seconds...read the operator manual to see if any of the modes might sync and make some sense.

You really need a multimeter. You can often pick up an inexpensive one for less than $20 if you look around. They're often on sale for even less. An inductive test light can tell you if power is being applied, but may not be enough. Those are even less expensive.

Unless something happened to all three of the other light fixtures at the same time to blow out the bulbs (which are new), then they should be fine. I'll check them as well when I get home this evening.

Aw, come on. Spring for a $10 meter and at least check to see if the breaker is bad. Only problem might be that the test is best performed at the breaker, which means you've got to remove the panel cover and thus expose yourself and your loved ones to a bunch of 1952 wires carrying lethal currents and maybe electrocute yourself. And if the breaker IS bad, you'd have to replace it, which is even trickier. Maybe calling a pro isn't such a bad idea after all.

Every homeowner that isn't a total clutz should own a multimeter. If, for nothing else, to see if a battery is any good. A poor substitute is an inductive voltage detecter or a test light.

Yes, you can hurt yourself, but as long as you don't short the probe tip to something, or touch exposed metal parts of the probe while it's connected to something, it's pretty safe. The things come with some instructions...practice on a battery. Don't use ohms when power is applied, and unless it is autoranging, set the range to something above what you expect to read. Most of the newer meters aren't damaged unless you exceed the maximum it can handle...it will just say overload or something like that if it is on the wrong range (most these days are autoranging). Sears has one on sale this week that includes an inductive voltage probe - you just get it near the thing, and if there is power, it lights up.

We will definitely be buying a multimeter to have on hand, but I'm happy to have him help out with this one.

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